Arrested Australian John Short was in North Korea for more than tourism: travel officials

Arrested Australian John Short was in North Korea for more than tourism: travel officials

Updated 20 February 2014, 14:25 AEDT

By China correspondent Stephen McDonell

An Australian missionary being held in North Korea had admitted he was in the country for more than just tourism, according to North Korean tourism officials who have been in touch with his Chinese travel company.

Mr Short, a Hong-Kong based Australian missionary, travelled to North Korea on a two-man tour with Chinese Christian Wang Chong. (Credit: ABC)

John Short, 75, has been arrested in North Korea for distributing Christian pamphlets and could face a long period of incarceration.

Details are emerging of how Mr Short came to be arrested following apparent attempts to proselytise, which is illegal inside the isolated country.

Mr Short, a Hong-Kong based Australian missionary, travelled to North Korea on a two-man tour with Chinese Christian Wang Chong.

The Chinese travel agency which booked the two-person trip says it has been told that Mr Short, as well as carrying a large amount of Korean language Christian pamphlets in his luggage, has admitted to local officials that his journey was not only for the purpose of tourism.

Proselytising is viewed harshly inside North Korea and Mr Short, who is being held in custody in Pyongyang, is undoubtedly in trouble.

Mr Wang, who has now returned to Beijing, says their problems stemmed from a visit to a Buddhist temple, where Mr Short left pamphlet materials promoting Christianity.

"They took us to a mountain to visit a temple and a Buddhist statue was broken or smashed by someone. The door of this temple was damaged too," Mr Wang said.

"They were not happy for us to see this damage. We took some photos. They asked us to delete them and we deleted them.

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